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Fig. 1 | Journal of Translational Medicine

Fig. 1

From: Immunogenic cell death in cancer: concept and therapeutic implications

Fig. 1

Core requirements for the initiation of adaptive immune responses by dying cells. For cell death to drive bona fide adaptive immune responses: (1) cell death must occur in the context of adaptive stress responses; (2) cell death must ultimately occur, as opposed to successful adaptation to stress; (3) dying cells must present antigens that are not covered by thymic tolerance; (4) regulated cell death (RCD) must be accompanied by the emission of endogenous molecules that operate as immunological adjuvants; and (5) microenvironmental conditions must be permissive for antigen-presenting cell (APC) recruitment, maturation and migration to lymph nodes (or other sites of antigen presentation), as well as for cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) infiltration and activation. Depending on which of these conditions is lacking, cell death can drive innate immune signaling coupled with local inflammation, actively promote immunological tolerance and/or result in antigen-specific CTL priming and expansion but no effector immune response. ACD, accidental cell death; DAMP, damage-associated molecular pattern; ICD, immunogenic cell death

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